Thursday, November 3rd 8-10 pm

The Bad Feminist Readings, produced by Sarah Gentile and Sarah Giovanniello, is a feminist reading of not-so-feminist titles from our personal paperback collections. Spanning nearly 100 years worth of popular reading material, these books were produced with women in mind. With titles like How to Be a More Interesting Woman and Corporate Gamesmenship for Women, these books offer opportunities into how to turn really bad advice into good advice. NYC feminists will take the stage to talk about their reaction to the books and to read highlights of their favorite titles to the audience. Come out to laugh about how far we’ve come and think a little more about how far we still have to go.

In American Idolatry, curated by Legacy Russell, artists are coming together to see how pop culture gets spoon fed to a willing and hungry public. What is more like religion and ritual than the hilarious, disturbing, and yet all together honest health and beauty routines foisted on young girls and grown women? I must, I must, I must increase my bust! In a pseudo-secular society, self-improvement becomes the true calling of so many. Come see how Bad Feminists devote themselves to perfect gender normativity by following not-so-sage advice.

In addition to the night of readings, there will be djs playing yeye tunes with bad advice written all over them and an installation related to the work dedicated to the cult of bad advice worship.

This event is free and open to the public.

Sarah Gentile is an archivist, feminist, and New Yorker. An ardent believer in the democracy of culture, she works at the Brooklyn Museum editing museum photography by day and labors furiously on her feeble attempt at the Great American Novel by night. Recently, her rants on popular culture’s take on gender roles have culminated in a series of events co-curated by still another Sarah, in this case Sarah Giovanniello. At these events, a group of selected feminists give these texts a collective rereading and reinterpretation called Bad Feminist Readings. Though that sounds like a bitter pill of an evening, it’s actually a ridiculously fun time.

Sarah Giovanniello is a writer, independent curator, and researcher. She currently works as Research Assistant in the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum. She also holds an MA in Performance Studies from NYU and a BA from Bryn Mawr College. Sarah loves watching the slippage between history and living practice in the everyday, and particularly enjoys scheming guerrilla feminist asides with her Other, Sarah G.